Union government issues counterfeit COVID-19 vaccine identification guidelines
Seeing the increasing counterfeiting of COVID-19 vaccines all around the world, the Indian government has come out with a set of guidelines to identify whether a vial of vaccine is authentic or not. The Health Ministry issued the guidelines, which explain the unique identifying marks on the labels of Covishield, Covaxin and Sputnik V.
These guidelines come nearly two weeks after the World Health Organisation (WHO) said that it has identified fake Covishield vaccines in South-East Asia and Africa.
Take a look at the various parameters to identify a vaccine as genuine:
COVISHIELD
- SII product label has to be there
- Label colour shade is dark green, as per approved artwork (Pantone 355C, specifically)
- Colour of the aluminium flip-off seal is dark green
- ‘COVISHIELD’ brand name with trademark is mentioned
- Font of the text of the generic name is ‘un-bold’
- Word ‘Recombinant’ is printed at the end of the generic name
- ‘CGS NOT FOR SALE’ overprinted
- SII logo printed on the adhesive side of label at special angle and position
- Lettering printed in special white ink for enhanced readability
- Honeycomb effect visible at special angles; the effect changes at certain angles, which experts would be able to identify
COVAXIN
- Invisible helix (DNA-like structure) on label which is visible only under UV light
- Micro-text hidden in label claim Dots, which is written as ‘COVAXIN’
- Green foil effect in the ‘X’ of ‘COVAXIN’
- Holographic effect on COVAXIN
SPUTNIK V
- Imported from two different manufacturing sites in Russia. All details remain same except the name of the manufacturing place.
- English label available only on the front and back of the carton of the five-ampoule pack
- On all other sides of a carton, and also on the primary label on the ampoule, the label text is in Russian
